


A House Divided

by tatemshope



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Author has a potty mouth, Avengers in Asgard, Eventual Smut, Except When They Do, F/M, Food Deprivation, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Thor: The Dark World Spoilers, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Villains don't get happy endings, bag full of cats
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-01
Updated: 2014-03-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 01:57:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1114179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatemshope/pseuds/tatemshope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor is unconscious, Loki is an abused mess, and Tony screams at the sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Homesick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is my second language so please excuse my grammar or word choice if it is weird.

Thor’s return to Earth had been all over the papers, but none of the Avengers had gotten so much as a word from him until two weeks after the Dark Elves fell. It was then that Thor showed up at Stark Tower, looking glum as hell, and beseeching (Thor’s word) Tony for temporary lodging until he could figure out what he was going to do with his life. Tony had absolutely insisted they call over the others for a ‘debrief’ though it was quickly apparent once they arrived that ‘debrief’ was Stark-speak for a table full of Chinese take-out and buckets of beer.

It got late, the story was told, all the way up through Loki’s honorable death aiding Thor, and Thor’s own decision to pass up the throne. His Midgardian friends had been skeptical concerning Loki but were far more supportive that his friends on Asgard when it came to his talk with his father.

“Does this mean we’re finally going to meet Jane?” Pepper asked with a knowing smile, sitting cross-legged at Tony’s feet and leaning her head against his knee, as it had gotten quite late.

“Not soon,” Thor said. “She is unhappy with me. She believes I sacrificed my destiny for her and insists she does not want to see me again until I take my rightful place as king.”

“She’ll get over it,” Natasha said, between bites of noodles held expertly aloft between a pair of chopsticks. “We do that for the pretty ones.”

“You could always send her flowers,” Steve suggested.

“Or a telescope. Girls like telescopes. Great big ones,” Tony added, well into his seventh or eighth beer of the evening. “It’s the size that counts. The bigger the better.”

“She’s an astrophysicist. She’s probably got enough telescopes,” Bruce pointed out, looking over at Tony with a half smile. He wasn’t remotely surprised he’d insist bigger was better.

“I appreciate your help, my friends,” Thor said, “but for now I will respect Jane’s wishes. There are other matters here I should attend. England needs cleaning.”

“You’re going from being the Prince of Asgard to a London street sweep?” Clint slurred slightly, lifting his eyes from his glass. “I think I saw that movie once. Wouldn't pay to see it again.”

“There’s nothing wrong with some hard work,” Steve pointed out. “I can get away for a week or two to help if you don’t mind the company.”

“Maybe three more of us can go, and we can be the new One Direction,” Tony said, completely distracted from reality by the bottle in his hand. “Thor would make a really excellent Niall. You know, if Niall was 6’6” and carried around a big hammer...” 

“They let you give out one award at the Grammys and now you’re the expert,” Bruce said, shaking his head in amusement.

Tony laughed at his own joke, but the blank stares from everyone else made him smirk. “Best Song Ever? That’s What Makes you Beautiful? No?”

“No,” Natasha said, knowing enough to blink hard to try and get the image out of her head.

“That’s a shame. Bruce would make a great Harry,” Tony said dismissively.

“Ignore him,” Pepper said, rising to her feet and then tugging Tony up to his. “Get a few drinks in him and he has the musical taste of a thirteen year old girl.”

“I resemble those remarks,” Tony said smartly, not at all resistant to the idea of following Pepper to his bedroom. They’d been cooling things off lately, but a tipsy romp in bed every now and then seemed to keep them on track. “Thor, you good? Everyone else remember how to get to your rooms? Remember kids, drinking and flying don’t mix.”

“I am fine, Stark,” Thor replied with a small smile that didn’t come close to reaching his eyes. “Sleep well, friend.”

Tony shot him a drunken smile. “With any luck, sleep is the last thing on the list.” And then he was gone. 

Clint and Natasha walked off toward rooms somewhere on the floor they were on now, while he, Bruce, and Steve headed for the elevator.

“It’s good to have you back,” Bruce said as they travelled down a floor. “I think even the ‘other guy’ missed you. As much as he can miss anyone.”

The sentiment made Thor genuinely smile for the first time in weeks. “I missed all of you as well. It has been a difficult month.”

He missed Bruce’s reply as the elevator flooded with the first ear-piercingly loud tones of whatever One Direction song Jarvis liked best. Tony had left it up to his discretion.

~~~~

England proved every bit the distraction Thor needed over the next two weeks. He and Steve helped carry load after load of rubble, each doing the work of more than ten men, and far more able than any crane or bulldozer. Tony had a flat in London he’d been happy to lend them, and had flown over twice to spend evenings there. It was the night after Tony’s second visit that Steve got out of his shower, dressed in some casual pajamas and walked out to the balcony to sit with Thor.

Between the good sort of exhaustion that came with hard work, and Thor’s own quiet grief over the deaths of his mother and brother, they hadn’t done much talking apart from the typical dinner conversation of ‘what’s the biggest thing you lifted today?’

“You’ve been quiet,” Steve said. “Which is a nice change from New York, don't get me wrong. If you have something on your mind, though, I’d listen.”

It was chilly, and Steve grabbed a couple of blankets from the chair next to his, pulling one over himself and handing one to Thor.

“This degree of cold does not bother me, but thank you the same. I would speak of my family matters, but I do not know where to begin.”

Steve held out the blanket again.

“Sometimes blankets are about more than being warm,” Steve said. “I’ve never really found a better cure for homesickness.”

“I could go home anytime. That I am here is my choice.”

“I don’t necessarily mean homesick for Asgard the way it is now. More like, homesick for Asgard the way it was. Before Loki went off the deep end, and your mother...” Steve trailed off, unsure if he should continue.

“Mother is in Valhalla now,” Thor said. “I should not grieve her or begrudge her that.”

“It doesn’t begrudge her anything to miss her,” Steve said. “And I know the gang wasn't exactly eager to hear about Loki doing the right thing, but it’s okay to miss him too. He was your brother and it sounds like he fought pretty well in the end.”

“Aye, he did,” Thor said, looking up at the stars as he pulled the blanket around himself. “I miss him. I miss them both.”

It was the first time he’d admitted as much since he’d arrived on Earth.

“You are a wise man, Steve Rogers,” Thor said, wrapping the blanket more tightly around himself and feeling mildly surprised that it did seem to alleviate some of his burden. “A credit to Midgard.”

“You can thank my mother for that one. I doubt she’s in Valhalla but I like to think she’s somewhere equally nice.”

Thor smiled. “I am very sure she is.”

~~~~

Another week went by, and Greenwich was nearly clear of rubble. Steve and Thor had made a big impression on the locals, who in typical British fashion gave them space when it was needed, and accolades and grateful nods when it was not. Steve was working at one end of a long green space between buildings when a blast from behind him was enough to knock him flat on his face. He was up on his feet in an instant, running toward the explosion instead of away as the rest of the workers were doing. When he got to the source of the blast, Thor was on his back, eyes closed, breathing heavily and entirely unresponsive. An alien looking piece of technology, no bigger than a brick was in Thor’s hand and when Steve reached for it it glowed bright green for a few seconds and then went dark. It was strangely light in weight, and Steve cautiously picked it up then laid it several feet away as the sound of sirens pricked his ears.

What kind of weapon could take out Thor this spectacularly, he didn’t know. But he did know he didn’t want to be holding it if it went off again.

~~~~ On Asgard~~~~

Loki’s first foray back to consciousness did not go well for him. The blast of pure electricity that hit him in the chest had him curling in on himself and moaning in pain when he realized both his wrists were chained to the floor and he’d nearly wrenched them out of socket trying to protect himself. The abuse had lasted longer this time. His tormenter grew impatient for the information he thought was locked inside him.

“What are you waiting for?” an eerily familiar voice demanded. “Thor to save you? Is that it?”

“No--” Loki choked on the word, and hated that on any level, yes. The answer was yes. If not Thor, then who? “No. He would... not... come.”

“Oh, he’ll come,” the voice mocked him. “And then I will have my questions answered.”

Another vicious kick, this time to his face, and Loki willed the darkness to envelope him once more. Anything was better than a gloating god. He should know.


	2. Bite a God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers call for help

The S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors weren’t nearly as helpful as Steve had hoped. Not that it was their fault-- they’d done all they could, starting with intercepting the ambulance and transporting Thor to the helicarrier, all the way up through transporting him off the helicarrier to Stark Tower so Bruce could take a look at him.

“I’m not an expert on Asgardian physiology,” Bruce sighed, to no one in particular. He, Steve, Natasha and Clint were gathered around Thor’s bedside in various states of exhaustion. “He’s stable, I think. Not getting worse by the minute anyway. The biggest problem for now is getting food or water into him. His skin breaks the IV needles and his swallowing reflex is-- different. If we knew what had happened--”

“It’s alien tech,” Tony supplied, as he walked into the room. He’d spent the last four hours in his lab confirming and then reconfirming what they all suspected from the start. “It might take alien tech to fix him. Anybody got Odin’s cell number? Think he’d Facetime to save the prodigal son?”

“You can’t rule out that it’s Asgard who pulled this shit in the first place,” Clint interjected. “He said it himself-- even his friends weren’t supportive. Who’s to say they didn’t toss the thing through a portal knowing he’d pick it up?”

“Hurt feelings seem like a stretch as a motive,” Natasha said.

Clint made a scoffing noise. “Right now we’re 50/50 when it comes to gods. The same people who raised Thor raised Loki. I wouldn’t trust most of them further than I could dropkick them.”

“I don’t know that we have a choice,” Bruce said. "Thor's not going to survive like this indefinitely."

“So either they come here and we watch them around the clock, or he goes there and we’re a package deal,” Steve said, attempting the part of voice of reason. "If we can't rule the Asgardians out, we have to protect him from his own."

“You know what it sounds like to me? A good time to attack Earth,” Tony pointed out. “That’s how I’d do it. Draw the people you know can kick ass off the rock then pick it apart. Though that’d have Loki written all over it and Coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs is supposedly dead.”

Natasha and Clint exchanged glances.

“What-- what aren’t you telling us?” Bruce asked.

“It’s nothing bad,” Natasha said quickly. “It’s just the Avengers aren’t the only ones who can do what we do. There are contingency plans. Other heroes. Earth should be fine.”

“Are they as good as us?” Steve asked. “Tell me it’s not that Spider Kid.”

Natasha and Clint kept their faces blank. “It’s not for us to say.”

“If we make it quick, there’s no need for anyone but the Need to Knows to know we're off planet,” Tony pointed out. “The suit can fly without me. Bruce isn’t exactly tap dancing for the paparazzi on a regular basis. I say we skip any kind of diplomacy and just stand outside shouting Odin till someone on Asgard takes a look this way. We get Thor fixed and we're back before breakfast.”

“It’s not the worst plan,” Steve admits. “If you’re up for it, lead the way.”

Tony smiles and heads out the doors that lead to the roof, with the rest of the Avengers following after him curiously. Tony waves at the sky.

“ODIN! Hey, up there in Asgard!” Tony shouted. “Hola Todo-Padre!” 

“What was that Loki and Fury were going back and forth about?” Steve asks. Ants and boots? If we want to get the attention of a man, shouting isn’t going to do an ant any good. But chomping down on him might.”

Tony nods. “Theological question here: How do you bite a god? Anybody?”

There was no time for an answer because a second later the entire building shook. A flash of light lit up around them and the man who appeared needed no introduction. Steve was guessing at least that there was only one older, one-eyed Asgardian who was going to show up in his tower right then.

“I am unaccustomed to being summoned by mortals,” Odin announced, though he didn’t look as angry as could be expected. If anything he looked indulgent. Like a parent speaking to a small, defiant child. “For Thor’s sake, I will overlook your impertinence.”

He walked over to his son. No one moved to stop him but no one moved out of the way either.

“This must have been recent. Last I looked in on him he was able-bodied.”

“Yesterday, sir,” Steve responded. “I was working with him, clearing up the mess the Dark Elves left behind and--”

Odin held up a hand to silence him. “Do not speak it.”

Odin ran a hand through the air a few feet above where Thor slept. His face turned grim and he made the same motion again, this time the air around his hand taking on a slight glow.

“I must take him to Asgard,” the All-Father decreed. “This is the work of a powerful sorcerer.”

“Loki?” Bruce asked automatically.

“Loki is dead,” Odin said plainly.

“Yeah, and we all sleep better at night,” Steve said. “But we want to go, too. Thor’s going to need bodyguards and we volunteer.”

“You make demands,” Odin intoned. Again, his expression was difficult to read, though definitely not angry. Steve was pretty sure they wouldn’t like him if he was angry. He glanced over at Bruce who seemed to be taking this remarkably well. And if the Hulk didn’t feel like Odin was an immediate threat, the rest of them could breathe a little easier.

“Not demands, exactly,” Tony said. “Requests? We can do that right? Offer you two cows and a goat, light some incense? I can do a rain dance. I’d offer you a virgin but we’re fresh out.”

“Some mortals say please,” Odin intoned dryly. 

“Please, then,” Steve said before Tony could get them in any trouble with his mouth. “Having us there will free you up to figure out who did this. We took on Loki and an army and we’d die for Thor. You can’t ask for better bodyguards than that.”

Odin considered the request. “We will leave shortly.”

He turned his attention back to Thor, drawing a shape in the air before a glimmering bubble enveloped their friend. Tony nodded toward the door and the rest assembled outside.

“I have to let Fury know where we’re going,” Natasha said.

“Do it,” Tony said. “Leave it for the last second, though. That way if he starts yelling you’ll get plenty of static as you cross space.”

“I think I should sit this one out,” Bruce said. “I can’t be responsible for breaking another planet.”

“What if it isn’t Asgard we’re up against?” Tony asked. “We could use you, Bruce. It’s your decision, but come on? When else are we going to get a chance like this? To see another planet. That’s _space_. That’s the final frontier.”

“Star Trek? That’s low,” Bruce laughed.

“If Odin cared, he’d refuse. He’s the king, he can do that,” Natasha said.

“If the king allows it,” Bruce said. “I’ll go.”

“Boldly,” Tony said. “You’ll boldly go. Where no Hulk has gone before.”

The group split up to go pack bags for an overnight stay and then reassembled. By the time they got back to the roof, Thor was hovering next to Odin and the team was in uniform. Tony waited till last to call the suit.

~~~~

“We will be moving into the realm through a hidden path,” Odin said. “I will accept you as Thor’s guards in the hopes that it is unnecessary as his enemies will not know where he is. The hall is dark still, in mourning. Remain silent when we enter and follow me closely. There are chambers known only to the King. Thor will reside in those until a cure is found.”

Tony couldn’t help but shudder. It sounded ominous. He wasn’t sure why, but his instincts were rarely wrong. They had no choice, though, but to cooperate.

Odin took his spear, drew a large circle in the air, then summoned magic to punch a hole in space. He floated Thor through first, then stepped in himself, waiting until the last of them were off Earth before closing the hole behind them. They were near a large throne, and the hall was indeed quite dark. He said not a word, motioning for quiet then floating the still glowing Thor around the the throne, behind some columns and down a flight of stairs far too narrow for what you'd expect in Asgard. At the bottom they found themselves in an octagonal room lit by heavy looking sconces scattered high on the walls. There was a large, stone table in the center, and Odin floated Thor to rest there.

Around the room, there were massive stone rectangles hanging on each of the eight walls, and Odin gestured at one that slowly opened, revealing a sparse bedroom inside. He gestured at several more rectangles and the rocks slid aside, revealing more rooms, five in all. Three sets of rectangles remained closed. By Earth standards they were large, and the beds would handle two people comfortably, but by palace standards they looked more like jail cells or servant quarters than bedrooms.

“When he is healed, and you are celebrated as heroes, you will have better apartments after the feast.”

“This is fine,” Steve said quickly. “Are you going to put Thor in a room as well?”

The rock didn’t look overly comfortable.

“This is a healing stone,” the King said. “He will remain here for now.”

None of them had much to put away, but Tony was quick to call dibs on the room furthest from the stairs, mostly because he just really liked calling dibs. He took a few minutes to get himself out of the suit (he figured Bruce could hold off a bad guy long enough for him to get it back on), peaked around the cell realizing there was a nearly invisible wall hiding a toilet large enough to earn the title of throne, and then walked out to where everyone else had gathered to watch the King work. He moved his spear over Thor dramatically, causing the air to shimmer a dozen different colors and looked dismayed by whatever he was seeing.

“It is worse than I feared,” the King said in a low, voice that could have passed for sad. “There is dark energy in him and around him. Gungnir can not extract it.”

“Is he dying?” Steve asked.

“There has to be more you can do,” Natasha said.

“We have relics in our vault that may help. You are familiar with one of them. The Tessarect has enough power to drain this away and direct the energy to empty space. Not even I have the power to do this without a key though.”

“A key?” Tony asked, his mind already spinning with possible solutions.

“I thought the Tessarect was a kind of key,” Steve said.

“No, the Tessarect is more like a door or a gate,” Clint said.

“The scepter was the key,” Natasha said.

“The Chitauri Scepter,” Odin said, raising his own spear again to keep the lights around Thor brightly glowing. “It might work. Would the Midgardian leaders allow Asgard to borrow it for a short time?”

The group seemed uneasy, particularly Clint, who Tony knew had the worst interactions with the damn thing.

“They didn’t start a war over Thor taking the Tessarect,” Steve said. “I think we could probably get the Scepter, but it would have been easier if Thor had talked to S.H.I.E.L.D. about Loki being dead, and I don’t think he did. They aren’t going to want to chance him getting his hands on it again. If you had proof--”

“There is no proof that he is dead,” Odin said. “On Midgard we were being watched so I did not dwell on the topic. Here, we are safe from all eyes save my own, and I can tell you now; Loki lives.”

“He what?” Tony asked. “Because I could swear you just said he lives and if he’s alive there’s no way Pointy isn’t the one who did this.”

He nodded at Thor with an angry flourish and then looked at Bruce who was taking a few steps backward trying to calm himself down with what sounded like the ABC song.

“As I said, that is not possible,” Odin explained, seemingly unbothered by a possible Hulk-Sized-Hole through the walls of his castle. “Loki appeared to me once Thor was gone. He had faked his death and was glamored as a guard. I saw through his illusions and subdued him. Here is your proof.”

Odin gestured at one more rectangle and it slid open, though instead of being passable like the others, this one had a clear, metallic looking screen, and inside, a man lay collapsed on the floor. It was Loki, if you looked hard, but it wasn’t easy to tell. He’d had the shit beat out of him royally. He was wearing the sort of muzzle they’d seen Thor put on him a few years previous, and his wrists were shackled to the floor. His hair and face were matted with dried blood and his eyes were closed. If it weren’t for the shallow rise and fall of his chest, he’d have looked more dead than alive.

“You weren’t kidding about subdued,” Steve said in a low voice with just an edge of disapproval.

“I do not take kindly to usurpers of my throne,” the king said plainly. 

“And you shouldn’t,” Clint said.

“I spared him out of love for my wife," Odin said, his voice weary. "I planned to tell Thor the truth when Loki was recovered enough to be questioned. As you can see for yourselves, Loki has not been in any shape to cause mischief for a month and will not be coming into contact with the Scepter. You have my word.”

“It’s a compelling case,” Tony said, unable to take his eyes off the fallen god. “He’s been like this for a month?”

“His healing is slow because he does not care to heal,” Odin explained. “He knows this is his final prison. My patience has run dry and no force in the cosmos, not even Mjolnir, could break these walls. I am hopeful, though, that finally Thor will see the wisdom in my judgement. That Loki will always be after the throne and that no amount of fraternal love can make that otherwise.”

Everyone else seemed willing to turn back toward the All-Father to begin anew on the Scepter discussion. Tony wasn’t interested. He got that Loki was the bad guy. He got that this cell was more than Crazypants deserved. It was just that cells were a sore spot for him. Beatings were too. Gags. Rock walls. Hunger. Being sealed away. Suddenly the whole damn place felt like it was closing in on him even if there wasn’t jack shit he could do about it. Thor still needed protection. Loki was a dangerous son of a bitch that couldn’t be trusted. There had to be some rule somewhere about the perils of messing around in the affairs of gods. He turned back to his friends, desperate for distraction and plopped himself in the middle of a conversation he’d only half heard.

“Asgard’s already got the Tessarect. You’re a god. This can’t be that hard,” Tony insisted.

“I would not make enemies where few exist now, Starkson,” Odin replied. “Midgard would need to give me the Scepter. I will not take it, not even for Thor.”

“I don’t have those qualms,” Natasha said, glancing at Clint. “And I don’t think Fury is going to start a war if we can keep it quiet. Let us go talk to him. He knows Earth may need Thor’s help sooner than later, and to be perfectly honest, it’s not a bad idea to have gods owing us.”

Odin considered it. “I would be in your debt,” he agreed. “We will need to move to the throne room for me to open a portal and I will not be able to leave it open. When you return to Stark tower with the Scepter, shout my name as before and I will be looking for you. Thor does not have long. You must hurry.”

“We’ll do the best we can,” Clint agreed.

“I will need to close the way to this room. Food will appear on the low tables in your room at regular intervals. It is as safe for mortals to eat as it is for us.”

And with that the three of them were up the stairs, leaving Steve, Tony and Bruce behind as a rock slid into place, sealing them into their hidden accommodations.

Tony looked between his friends, then to Loki, then to the heavy stone door that separated them from the outside world.

“Anybody else have a bad feeling about this?”


	3. The Price of Compassion

_“Anybody else have a bad feeling about this?”_

It turned out the answer was no. Steve and Bruce were fine. Thor trusted his father, and that was good enough for them. It was Tony getting clammy hands and finding it a little hard to breathe once the way out was shut. It was the enclosed space that had him nervous more than anything. Caves. He really hated caves.

“Tony? You okay?” Bruce asked. Tony’s fear was impossible to miss.

“M’fine,” Tony lied. “It’s just the air. Down here. Stale. Give me a minute.”

“You could go put on your suit,” Steve suggested. “Or hey, look at that-- food appeared. Just like Odin said.”

Tony felt like doom was not quite as imminent when he saw a bench full of food and drink in their temporary rooms. Out of curiosity he glanced behind him to the cell where Loki was being kept and there was food and drink in there as well. Tony had no clue how Loki was supposed to get to it. Maybe that was the point. The muzzle would prevent him from getting food into his mouth and with the chains cuffed to his wrists his hands couldn’t reach even half the distance to his meal.

Tony stayed to watch while Bruce and Steve went to get food. Loki stirred slightly, alerted to the arrival of dinner even with his eyes swollen closed. 

“He’s waking up,” Tony called to the others, who brought out plates to stand by Tony. They stood in silence for a few minutes, the only noise provided by the crunch of an apple or the tearing of bread. Their own apples and bread, since without assistance there was no way Loki was getting anything to eat. Which wasn’t stopping him from trying.

At first Tony hadn’t even been sure that was what Loki was doing. It had taken him more than a minute to pull himself out of his balled up position on the floor and it was a delicate motion, full of pained expressions and wincing. Loki continued shifting around, stopping every few seconds to catch his breath or adjust his position to lessen the pain. He stretched out his legs toward the bench, then just as slowly as he’d turned, he attempted to lift a foot to pitch the bench forward or knock some food toward himself. It was awful to watch. 

Bruce was the first to speak, his voice low and numb. “This is like one of those nature documentaries where you see the mother antelope get eaten by a lion and then the cameraman keeps showing the baby antelopes hungry, and cold, and being picked off by hyenas.” 

“Except I’d have pegged Loki for the hyena, not an antelope,” Tony sighed. He didn't _want_ to feel sorry for him.

“I’ve lost my appetite,” Bruce replied, sitting his apple back on his plate and then carrying it away to his room. There was something in his voice that sounded a little more stressed than was good for their safety, and Tony understood why Bruce was retreating.

“I can’t watch this,” Steve said. “If he got beat up in a fight he started with Odin, fine. But this-- this looks a lot like torture.”

Steve walked to his room as well. Tony stayed put. He needed to see how this played out. He needed to see that Loki was managing, bastard or not.

The cup full of water spilled to the floor and Loki scrambled forward, faster than before, then fell face first into the quickly spreading puddle. Tony could see that the muzzle covering the god’s face wasn’t exactly the same as he’d worn on Earth. This one had a small hole in the middle, presumably to make breathing easier, and at the moment the former prince of Asgard was using the hole to suck water off a dirty floor.

Tony remembered that kind of thirst.

Food was a lost cause and Loki seemed to know it. When the water puddle trickled away a few seconds later, he shifted to the side and all movement ceased. Tony watched him for another minute, taking in the unnatural thinness of Loki’s frame and the bruises that mottled his skin. He was wearing a flowy sort of shirt, stained with dirt and blood, that soaked up the water under him, and pants Tony was pretty sure were straight out of a Renaissance Faire. They definitely didn't do much to hide the damage or keep him from sustaining more. When Loki remained still for several more minutes, Tony went back to his room, with its wide open rectangle wall, and sat down on the bed. Something was bothering him. Actually a lot of things were bothering him, but there was something in particular. Something specific. Odin’s words.

_His healing is slow because he does not care to heal._

Someone who’d given up on life to that degree didn’t fight so hard for a drink of water. They just didn’t. 

Unless Tony was projecting. He was probably projecting. Maybe Loki was just really damn thirsty. It happened. Even megalomaniacs couldn't survive on madness alone. Either way, Tony was already preparing for bad dreams. Anytime he let himself dwell on his previous captivity, the nightmares came. The best he could hope was that the walls were soundproof or that his friends were heavy sleepers. He looked around again, trying to pretend the stone walls were inviting. Homey. Safe.

Who’d decorated this place, anyway? Sauron?

When he couldn't take the discomfort creeping up on him any longer he went ahead and put on the suit. For a litany of reasons, JARVIS didn't work on Asgard. The suit had the basics of functionality but it seemed hollow without the disembodied voice of his friend. 

Gods, he was really losing it.

When the door to the stairs slid open an hour later, Tony practically jumped out of his armor. He’d convinced himself everything in the world had gone wrong. What greeted him was exactly what should be greeting him. Natasha was carrying an assortment of weapons, as was Clint, and Odin was carrying the scepter along with his usual spear. They didn’t look suspicious or afraid. They were returning from a mission and any minute now Odin would heal Thor and they would all walk up the stairs together and leave this place.

Tony just had to keep his shit together until then. He'd put on his big boy panties that morning. He could make it happen.

Odin didn’t spare so much as a glance in their direction as he approached Thor with the scepter. He did something magical with it, a bright light flashed and the massive stone where Thor rested began to shake. Thor flopped around like a fish and the room felt as if it was being drained of air. It stopped as fast as it started.

Odin shook his head and lowered the scepter. “Thor needs more time to recover on the healing stone before I proceed.”

The king reached below the stone and pulled out two more stones the size of basketballs. He placed one on either side of Thor’s chest and they began to glow slightly.

"You have seen for yourselves, Thor is well-hidden here. You are certain you would not prefer to return to your own realm?”

“We aren’t leaving Thor,” Steve said plainly. “We request you allow us to stay.”

“I have a realm to attend to. I will leave now and not return until morning,” Odin warned.

“We promised Director Fury we wouldn’t let the scepter out of our sight,” Natasha reminded the god.

“I will not leave such a powerful relic in the hands of mortals,” Odin replied. "Not here."

There wasn’t a lot any of them could do without picking a fight with the King of Asgard and that seemed like one of those things that wasn’t going to work out well for anyone.

“I will return when Thor is ready,” Odin said. “Defend him well.”

The king turned to leave and Tony took a step in front of him.

“Look, King Cole, I know I’m probably pushing my luck here but Loki can’t eat with that gag in his mouth and it was damn depressing watching him try. Sort of like watching somebody kicking a kitten. A murderous kitten, yes, but just as helpless.”

“Loki can not eat when he is gagged and he also can not lie. It is in place for the protection of Asgard.”

"Who is there to hear him?" Tony asked.

"Me," Odin replied.

“So he never eats?” Steve asked.

“He eats when I allow it,” the king said. “I was unaware Loki was a friend to Midgard or any of your concern.”

“He isn’t,” Clint said, giving Steve and Tony a ‘what the hell are you doing’ glare.

“We don’t have to like someone to know torture is wrong,” Tony said. “And trust me, food deprivation is torture.”

“It would take six or seven weeks before he was truly deprived,” the king said. “It has only been five.” And for a second, one split second, Tony thought he recognized something dangerous in the god’s eyes. Something cold and familiar and crazy. Or maybe it was just the light reflecting off all the rocks. These caves would make anyone crazy.

“Let me in his cell and I’ll give him the food,” Tony said. “I’ve got on my suit and I won’t free his hands. You won’t have to bother with him for six more weeks.”

It was a gamble, mostly because Tony figured once Thor was awake, there was no way he’d let this punishment stand for that long. He’d make sure his brother was fed regularly. That was Tony’s hope, anyway.

“Loki will not thank you for this,” the king warned.

“I’m not looking for thanks,” Tony said.

“Once I let you in you will not be able to leave until I return.”

“Tony,” Clint protested. “This is stupid. He hypnotized me and tried to kill you. Let the bastard go hungry for a few weeks. It’s more than he deserves.”

“Yeah, well, lots of people get more than they deserve and some people don’t get half the shit that’s coming to them," Tony answered. "Giving him food is the decent thing to do.”

“I will allow you to offer him food,” Odin said. “One night spent in his company will teach you compassion comes with a price.”

"I'm rich," Tony said. "I'm sure I can cover it."

"Tony, can I talk to you for a second?" Bruce asked. 

Tony shot him a look then nodded, stepping into the nearest room since he didn't feel like letting the whole room hear whatever this was.

“This is just about getting him food, right?” Bruce asked in nearly a whisper once they were away from the group.

“What else would it be about?” Tony honestly didn’t know. “I’m not going to walk in there and put a missile through his face if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“It’s not,” Bruce said.

“Then what’s this about? Just spit it out. I won’t bite, and even if I did I’d have a mouth full of jolly green giant before I could apply any tongue.”

Bruce laughed and shook his head slightly. “Ever since you got down here you’ve been anxious. It’s understandable. This has got to be a big trigger for you. I get that.”

“I don’t see what me not liking caves has to do with anything. You think we should let him starve because I get twitchy when I'm entombed?”

“No, that’s not what I said. It’s just-- feeding _him_ isn’t going to feed you. It isn’t going to reverse what happened to you. You can’t save yourself by trying to fix things for Loki and that’s where I’m worried this is going. You identifying with a mass murderer scares me. You can understand that, can’t you?”

“I understand it,” Tony said. “And I’m telling you that’s not what I’m doing. He needs to eat. I’ve got a suit that will keep him from biting off my fingers. That’s what this is about.”

“Good,” Bruce said. “If anyone asks, I’ll pass it along.”

They walked back out and Clint, Steve and Natasha were arguing in whispers that silenced when they saw him.

“You’re sure about this?” Steve asked.

“No one’s going to change my mind,” Tony said. He looked to Odin, who raised Gungnir wordlessly and a circle wide enough for Tony to pass through opened in the shimmering window of Loki’s cell. He gave the other Avengers a nod and then stepped through. It closed behind him and when he turned back only his reflection greeted him. The cell was mirrored.

“Rudolph?” Tony asked, trying not to startle the prisoner. Loki's breath quickened when he heard Tony’s foot hit the floor. “It’s Tony Stark. You threw me out a window, remember that?”

Loki jerked back suddenly and Tony realized maybe he shouldn’t have led with that introduction. Loki started pulling backwards against his chains, causing barely healed cuts to split apart, dripping blood down over his swollen wrists. If Loki was faking this level of panic and damage he was an actor worthy of his Shakespearean garb. He was shaking hard enough to rattle the heavy metal chains and crying out into his gag. Tony took a step toward him to stop him and Loki tugged harder, causing something in his arm to pop loudly in his desperate attempt to escape Tony’s presence.

“Stop pulling like that,” Tony insisted. “I’m just here to give you some food. It’s okay. You’re okay. Loki, I'm not going to hurt you.

It didn't take a genius to see that dinner wasn't going to make a dent in Loki’s condition. Thor’s brother collapsed back to the floor, curling his knees up to his chest and bringing his less injured arm up part of the way over his eyes to protect his face.

“Son of a bitch,” Tony muttered. “What’s Odin been doing to you?”


	4. Feeding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life sucks for pretty much everybody.

_“Son of a bitch,” Tony muttered to himself. “What’s Odin been doing to you?_

It was awkward, knowing his friends were out there watching, and he was completely cocking it all up. At least as far as he’d been able to tell from when he was outside, they wouldn’t be able to hear anything. He hadn’t heard the cup of water hit the floor when Loki had knocked it over earlier.

“Loki-- _Listen_ to me,” Tony demanded, harsher than he needed to be in the hopes Loki would do as he was told. When Tony got back from his imprisonment it had been a few months before he didn’t react automatically to just about anything somebody yelled. And wonder of wonders shouting actually worked.

Loki stopped pulling and he went freaky silent, still shaking like a baby antelope. Tony would have to smack Bruce later for that mental image since now he couldn’t get it out of his head It worked too damn well, with the horns and all.

“Good. That’s better,” Tony said. “I’m going to move close enough to get the gag off you. Don’t fight me. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

It was hard to tell how much, if anything, Loki understood. At least Tony was wearing metal gloves if he got feisty.

He moved behind Loki, who was still huddled on the floor holding as still as he could. It was difficult to undo the gag with the gloves and once or twice he poked Loki in the back of the head harder than he’d intended as he fumbled with the clasp. Finally after a few minutes he was able to undo the muzzle. He peeled it forward, uncrusting blood that had dried around the rim. Whatever horrors Loki had been through, from outside the cell Tony had thought the gag seemed like the worst. He was right. Loki’s mouth was bruised and bloody, his lips chalky white. He looked like something out of a nightmare. Especially when he forced his eyes open a slit, and they were both blood red from the beatings he'd endured.

“Shit,” Tony swore. Double swore since in his hurry to get in the room he hadn’t thought to _bring_ water. Thankfully the large goblet hadn’t spilled all its contents. “I’m going to hold this up to your mouth. Try to drink slowly. It isn’t going to sit well on your stomach if you suck it down and we need to try and make it last."

Before Loki could reply (if he could reply) Tony lifted the cup to the prince’s lips. “You were a jerk for tossing me out of my own tower,” he said getting that out of the way. “And a Bildshnipe for what you did to New York. Yeah, I went there. _Bildshnipe_. What I’m doing-- it doesn’t forgive anything. And just because you’re a wounded antelope and I volunteered to keep the hyenas away doesn’t mean I’m--”

Tony paused when Loki struggled to pull away from the water Tony was still holding to his lips.

He took a deep, shuddering breath then swung an arm, using the chains, to knock Tony’s hand away. It was more of a nudge than anything, and with the Iron Man suit on, entirely ineffective. It got Tony’s attention at least. When Loki spoke his voice was barely more than a raspy whisper.

“Do...you never... cease... your prattling?”

Somehow despite the pain, and the weariness, Loki still managed to sound indignant. Tony smirked. “There’s the cranky despot we all know and love. Glad you're still in there, nutter-butter.”

“Shut up. Begone... with you.”

“Begone with me?” Tony asked. “You get a sip of water then wham, bam, thank you ma’am, we’re done? I feel cheap. I really do.”

Tony moved to sit the cup down on the bench and Loki flinched pitifully at the movement, his eyes squeezing shut again, like he was bracing for impact.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Tony repeated. Releasing the cup, he picked up a plate of food. “Not like this. I’m not really the type to beat up on someone who can’t defend himself. Once you weasel your way out of here, if you come to Earth and cause trouble I’ll put an iron boot up your ass. Until then-- I’m just here to help.”

Loki’s eyes opened again, his expression guarded and confused. “As if... I want... your help.”

“You need dinner,” Tony said. “I’m going to cut it up then feed it to you. Don’t argue. It isn’t any more fun for me than it is for you.”

Loki didn’t have a reply for that one, internalizing whatever it was he was going to say.

~~~~

In truth, Loki was confused. Tony was a mystery to him. He’d been a mystery since the day he’d threatened Loki in the tower. More than that, he’d been a mystery since he’d momentarily pissed off the other Avengers to give Loki the requested alcoholic drink upon his collection because 'what was the harm' and 'he’d promised’. It had been one of the more decent things anyone had ever done for him. And now the Man of Iron was offering to _feed_ him.

He desperately wanted to ask why except he’d learned a long time ago not to ask questions when he wasn’t going to like the answer. So instead he watched Tony through slitted eyes, as the mortal used a narrow laser to slice a piece of fruit and some bread into small, easy to chew pieces. Then he picked one up and lifted it toward Loki’s mouth. It should have been humiliating, but considering a few hours before he’d been slurping water off the floor like an animal, Loki couldn’t muster up too much hostility. He was expecting Tony to make a remark to shame him or to jerk his hand back at the last second cruelly. Tony did neither.

He’d eaten a dozen pieces of bread and taken a few more sips of water when he couldn’t remain silent any longer.

“Subservience... suits you.”

~~~~

“I aim to please,” Tony replied smartly, smirking as he spoke. Maybe he should have been taking offense but this felt better than waiting out there. Banter, he could do. Dealing with villains was kind of his thing. The cave walls were no longer closing in on him, and even though Loki smelled ripe, it was an improvement to the air in the rest of the chamber which had seemed stale. Overly warm.

“I doubt... that,” Loki taunted, shaking his head slightly as Tony reached toward him to offer him more food. His stomach wouldn’t be able to handle it no matter how hunger still stabbed at him. 

“Come on, Prongs, you’ve got to eat more than that. I’m leaving in the morning. I’m not sure what your food situation will be then. I can’t make any promises.”

Loki’s eyes flickered up to Tony’s face and Loki’s breath hitched. Tony wasn’t sure what Loki had been expecting, but somehow that wasn’t it.

“Leaving? You... aren’t... a prisoner?” His voice sounded younger to Tony, with a kind of innocence he wouldn’t have thought Loki capable. His tone was thick with dismay. The thin veneer of control Loki had somehow clamped onto his emotions was gone, and he was flinching again, then lashing out at his only target. “Get OUT!”

Tony had assumed Loki’s magic was bound somehow but there was enough force behind his words that a blast of energy sent him tipping backwards. He righted himself, ready for a fight but Loki had collapsed back to the ground. His eyes were open enough that Tony could see his venomous expression.

“Thor’s unconscious,” Tony explained, realizing he’d never actually told Loki why he was here. “We called for your father and he brought us back here. Whatever hurt Thor was Asgardian in origin so we came in secret to avoid assassination attempts. He’s out there on on the big healing rock thingy, now. Odin seemed to think he could fix him by morning.”

Tony had not expected the laughter. At first it was a giggle. A giggle, born of disbelief. Then it was full-on laughter, with cackling and coughing and groans of pain when it finally died down. Loki was breathing heavily, his head resting to the side on the ground, still gazing at Tony.

“You... _foolish_... mortals. You feeble, mewling... infants. You think... yourselves so... wise. That is _not_ a healing stone and your host is _not_ Odin,” Loki hissed, hysterical with anger and fear. “That is _Loki_ , King of Asgard.”

The laughter had been bad enough; Loki’s words, spoken with a spooky authority that seemed bigger than the god himself, were much, much worse.

“Well, shit,” Tony said, flipping down his visor. “Then who the hell are you?”

~~~~

Outside the cell, the Avengers weren’t faring any better. Everything had seemed fine when the king left, carrying the Chitauri Scepter. They’d grabbed some additional food, stood out near Thor and watched him with Loki. It didn’t matter that they couldn’t hear. It was probably better that way. The peace lasted less than ten minutes. 

It started with a screaming whir in Clint’s room, and then an identical sound in Natasha's.

“You didn’t bring anything from S.H.I.E.L.D. that would blow up down here, did you?” Steve asked, as Clint inspected for the sound in his room, while Natasha and the Captain looked for the source of the noise in hers. 

“Nothing technology related,” she said. “We weren’t sure it’d work right here. We brought the basics.”

Bruce remained near Thor, not wanting to cause trouble if at all possible though he couldn't help getting involved when Clint let out a startled grunt and a sickening sort of thud followed. 

“Uhhh-- someone help?” he called. “I’m kind of being sucked into a wall. Right fucking now!”

He’d avoided panic until the last word. Tony, Natasha and Bruce all ran for him, but before Natasha could get out of the room she let out the same sort of pained grunt that had signaled Clint’s problem. Steve had gotten to Barton first and had a hand on Clint’s arm, trying to force him back out into the open, and even above Clint's own rising fear he looked toward Bruce.

“Help Natasha.”

Bruce wasn’t sure how much help he was going to be to anyone in this kind of crisis, but Natasha had started swearing in what sounded like Russian so Bruce did as he was told. The instant his body was through the stone opening Natasha dropped to the floor. Whatever had attempted to suck her in had given up and disappeared. Bruce hurried to her side to check her over but she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking behind him at the giant mirror that had shimmered into place. The room had become a holding cell in an instant. And probably more pressing, she was trapped in with Bruce.

Who could only whisper, “I’m sorry.”


	5. The Lesser Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets an explanation.

_“Well, shit,” Tony said, flipping down his visor. “Who the hell are you?”_

Loki didn’t respond right away. Instead he tried sitting up. Slowly. Always such a damn diva. Which only confused Tony more because if Loki was out there, and Loki was in here, something wasn’t adding up. Which happened from time to time when you were dealing with the _god of mischief and lies_.

“No-- you know what? Don’t answer. You almost had me, _fuck_. I’m losing my touch. It’s these caves I swear. That was good though. I mean, impressive. It usually takes more--”

“Stark,” Loki interrupted, more cough than speech. “While... I could applaud you... for showing your first... signs of intelligence... I deceive you not.” Loki paused, closing his eyes, as he attempted to push himself up again. It seemed harder this time and he collapsed before he’d made it more than a few inches off the floor. His sudden burst of laughter had drained the last of his energy, apparently. “Think, mortal,” Loki whispered. “Odin would punish me, yes... but not here. Only one who _truly_... hated me... hated me with all his heart... would be capable... of this. You know... who that is. I have seen the same... in your eyes.”

It probably spoke volumes that Tony had no trouble deciphering the meaning there. No one had ever hated Tony more than Tony hated himself. Maybe not lately-- but there had been a time. With that sinking knowledge, Tony was sure Loki was speaking the truth.

“What’s going to happen to Thor and everyone who came with us?” he asked.

“He will not kill them... soon,” Loki said. “He will make them... watch... kneeling before him... as Midgard burns.”

“He wants to put on a show. That’s good. It gives us time,” Tony said, flipping up his visor again so Loki could see his face. Tony knew feeling sorry for himself was one thing; freaking out in caves and staying up all night and drinking too much once he got home. In the moment he had to shove all that down and protect the few people he cared about. He wasn’t just going to bend over and take whatever the OtherLoki dealt out.

Tony moved closer to his cellmate, kneeling next to him to help him out of his curled up position on the floor. Not that there was any way Loki could get comfortable since it was a struggle to sit without support. Tony reached over, grabbed the bench, flipped it to its side and pushed it closer so Loki could rest against it. They were temporary allies. Tony had made nice with worse.

“So what’s his deal then?” Tony asked. “Evil twin? Clone gone wild? Science experiment take on a life of its own?”

Loki turned his head toward Tony, his eyes glancing up occasionally as if he was waiting for a beating or the other shoe to drop.

“Something... like that,” Loki said vaguely. “You wanted... to know who I am. Give me more... water. Then... you will have... your answer.”

Tony obliged without comment, not going to hold water hostage to get what he wanted. Loki swallowed bigger drinks this time, thirst winning out over sense, and Tony had to pull the cup away before Loki had drank as much as he wanted. 

“We’ve got to conserve it. We don’t know that there will be more.” The suit’s filtration system could help with that but there was never a good time to bring that into conversation.

“There will... be more water...” Loki said simply, with the resignation of someone who had no doubt. “First though... your answer.”

Loki shifted against the table, trying to position himself in a slightly more dignified way. It didn’t work, and he slumped against it, dropping his head before he spoke. When he began, his voice was soft, still breathy from constant pain and rough from weeks of screaming.

“You ask me who I am... I am Loki’s hesitation. I am the hand... that stills... before swinging the scepter. I pause... I think... before I press the button. I halt before... tossing you from a room. I am Loki’s weakness... I am his lack of conviction... and without me... he is King.”

“Well that’s a real bitch.” Tony really couldn’t wrap his head around all that without some thought, and as per usual, he thought best out loud. “So you’re both Loki. But you’re... good Loki?”

“Good?” Loki scoffed, sounding horrified. “You misunderstand... I still swung the scepter... I still pushed the button... I still murdered your friend. I threw you... to your expected death. I am... _not_ good.”

“Fine. You’re not good, but you’re the lesser evil at this point, if it comes down between you and him.”

Loki flinched at Tony’s choice of words. “It seems I am doomed... to be the lesser... in any incarnation.”

“C’mon Jan Brady. There isn’t anything lesser about using your smarts to weigh the cost of your actions. Look at it this way. If you were the eviler evil, I wouldn’t be offering to help you escape. Temporarily escape, at least.” Tony paused to take a breath. He knew he needed to convince Loki it was worth the risk to at least try. “Up there in all that swirling genius you’ve got to have some idea how to overcome LesserLoki-- yes, that’s what I’m calling him. He’s got self-loathing down to an art, but what you got is better. You’ve got a life time of practice at self-defeating behavior. See how that works? You’ve royally fucked yourself over time and time again. This next time, we’re going to use that to our advantage.”

Loki was looking at him like not only was he speaking Martian, but he’d forgotten to put on his pants.

“It’s possible. Anything’s possible until you’re dead,” Tony urged.

“He will... be watching. Listening,” Loki said. “Your plans will fail.”

“Self-defeating,” Tony said, giving him the sort of smile that made Loki’s hand itch to backhand it off Tony’s face. “Now let’s get on with the secondary details, Bambi. The more I know the more likely I’ll come up with something that works on the first try. You’re the part of himself he hates most. Why doesn’t he just kill you and get it over with?”

“After I froze Odin... and took the crown... I found a spell... cast it as one... thinking it would rid... us of weakness... to rule without... fail. I did not know... it would split us apart... If the true Loki dies... both die. If the false Loki dies... he dies alone.”

Which was unexpected.

“Wait-- neither of you know who is real?” Tony asked. This was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Freud would have a field day.

“On the contrary...” Loki explained. “We each... think we know the truth... that the other is real.”

“Where’s Odin-cicle then?” Tony asked. “Could he thaw? Save the day?”

“In one of these... cells. There is no hope there... No more questions... tonight.” 

Loki decreed it abruptly and that was fine with Tony. He needed to think. It changed the game that this Loki was slightly less evil. Or at least he wasn’t _mindlessly_ evil. Tony could work with that.

He could tell Loki wasn’t just calling off their question-and-answer period to be an ass. The god was looking worse. Drained. Like Tony after hour four of a board retreat-- well, at least the one’s Pepper absolutely frowny-face-forced him into sitting through. Tony stood and walked to the bed in the corner that Loki could have never hoped to reach on his own. Loki was back to laying on the floor, curled slightly on his side, watching him. The area between the chains that reached between Loki’s wrists and the floor was not wide enough to accommodate the bed if Tony moved it to make him more comfortable. The mattress wouldn’t fit either. 

Tony pulled the pillow and the blanket off the bed and walked them over to Loki, then lifted Loki’s head to shove the pillow underneath and fluffed the blanket over him. It was the best he could do.

Loki’s eyes had opened wider in alarm when Tony touched him and he still looked wary when Tony stood. Neither of them spoke until Tony got to the bed and sat down.

“I’m sleeping in the suit,” Tony said. “It will let me know if LesserLoki tries popping in here while I’m sleeping. He’s not going to hurt you again if I can help it.”

Loki made a scoffing sound, but didn’t elaborate his disdain. Either Loki didn’t think Tony would be capable of protecting him or he was just disgusted by the thought of a mortal’s help. Tony figured it might be better not to know.

~~~~

Steve put a hand on Clint's shoulder and squeezed lightly. "She'll be okay," Steve said. "Bruce has a handle on it now."

"Yeah. Until he doesn't." 

~~~~

It had been hours, without word from outside the cell. Bruce had gone to sit in a corner, with his eyes closed, chanting a quiet mantra of calm. Natasha had prowled around the room like a caged tiger, touching every corner, every crack to see if she could find a weak point in the stone. She couldn’t.

She also hadn’t spoken to Bruce in over four hours, both because he seemed intent on his meditating and because what exactly was she supposed to say? Don’t worry about it if you kill me? I know you can’t help it. Hollow as those words might sound, they were her honest thoughts on the matter. Perhaps more intimately than any of them, she knew death at the hands of the Hulk would mean terror. She’d faced a hundred deaths in her lifetime, and no close calls haunted her as much as that night in the helicarrier. She’d also seen the Hulk save the team more times than she could count. She’d long ago come to terms with the risk.

“You should get some sleep,” Bruce said, pulling her from her thoughts. “The bed’s all yours.”

“It’s big enough for two,” she said.

“And if I Hulk out because something sneaks up on us in the night?” Bruce asked, sounding strained. Miserable, really.

“Then it’ll be a quick death,” Natasha said. “I’d prefer that over trying to outlast you. We both know in close quarters it would only be a minute anyway, and it would be a bad minute.”

Bruce considered that then pushed himself up off the floor.

“Yeah,” he agreed quietly. He couldn’t argue. She was absolutely right. 

“Take the side next to the wall,” she said. “On the off chance someone comes in and the big guy doesn’t come out immediately, I’m in a better position to protect you.”

Bruce hadn’t shared a bed with a woman in an embarrassingly long time. It seemed somewhat fitting that Natasha piled several weapons under her pillow. “They’re for whoever trapped us in here,” she said. “This doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

“I know,” Bruce said, turning toward the wall. They wouldn’t put a dent in the Hulk.

Natasha pulled the covers up over them both and an awkward silence settled. When Natasha finally spoke, her voice lacked any anger or judgement.

“I’m glad I’m not in here alone,” she said. “I’ve done the solitary confinement thing. I don’t ever want to do it again.”

Bruce gave a mirthless laugh. “Even if your company is a monster?”

Natasha went silent. Bruce was nearly asleep when she spoke again.

“Better your monster than being left alone with mine.”


	6. How's That Working Out For You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki gets beat up again and then the cellmates have a chat.

Tony barely slept. It was miserable to try and get any rest inside the suit. It was too dangerous to take it off. Stuck behind mirrored glass with no idea what was beyond, or what had happened to his friends, how could he even think about sleep?

If what Loki said was true, and LesserLoki wanted his guests left alive, the most obvious way to contain the others without risking a fight (and the Hulk) would be to wait until they fell asleep then seal them in. It might not be all that satisfying though, and Loki in any form, could be hard to get a read on. That’s what happened when your brain was a bag full of cats.

Tony glanced around, first to Loki who was sleeping fitfully, and then on to the rest of the cell. There wasn’t a lot to work with in the room. He wouldn’t be building any additional Iron Man suits, anyway. What he had was a bed, a feather stuffed mattress, a wooden bench, two plates, a silver goblet, and a broken god. Maybe he could try using one of his lasers on the plates, smoothing it out until it was a perfect reflective surface so he could use that to double the strength of...

His mind was in overdrive-- ridiculous, brilliant, overdrive-- until exhaustion finally forced his eyes closed. It would have been different if he’d been in his lab and could move around and _do_ something. Stuck in the suit, there was nothing for his energy to do but burn itself out. He awoke with a jolt, a few hours later, when his suit alerted him to movement near the mirror, though if Tony had thoughts of _doing_ anything to help the situation he had underestimated the type of magic LesserLoki (Okay, so he was definitely Better At Magic Loki) could do from outside the cell. The suit was paralyzed an instant after the alarm woke him up, and then more troubling, it powered down entirely.

It was beyond inconvenient for kicking ass and Tony growled in frustration. It was LesserLoki, not the Odin doppelganger who walked into the cell, and that made sense if he’d already contained the others somehow. It was easier for him to gloat with his own face. And gloating was definitely on his agenda.

“I have been so looking forward to this reunion, mortal. Though I had thought to spend my morning making you beg, after your heartfelt pledge to protect the most useless amongst us, I have changed my plan. I want you to watch my duplicate suffer. I want you to realize how piteous your protection is and has always been.”

LesserLoki stepped closer to him, doing a quick bit of magic that had Tony’s visor sliding open allowing them to look each other in the face.

“I never said--” Tony began.

He lost the words as Loki backhanded the suit hard enough to send Tony flying back into the wall and slumping uselessly against it, caught between the mattress and the stone.

“Do not speak, mortal. Next time I will not be so careful to keep my hand to the metal.”

Which really wouldn’t have been enough to shut him up, except all the air had been knocked from his lungs with the force of impact. All he could do was gasp for breath and watch the proceedings in tunnel vision. 

DarkLoki (which seemed way more appropriate in Tony’s thoughts than LesserLoki at that point) stepped over to the Loki chained to the floor and smiled down at him wickedly.

“What did I tell you about hoping for salvation?” he demanded.

Loki didn’t have a chance to do much more than open his mouth before he was kicked in the chest, flinging him backwards until he was jerked to a stop by his chains. He was nearly helpless, although he did make another attempt at the burst of energy that had knocked Tony down the day before. It had absolutely no effect on his twin. The beating continued, first with boots and then with fists.

It took less than a minute before Loki was fighting to stay conscious from the assault, bleeding and bruised, with his right arm twisted at an unnatural angle. Tony felt sick watching it happen, sick being so fucking _helpless_ , and sick listening to Loki whimper like a child when his twin reached over him for the muzzle and shoved it back over his face roughly. Loki cried out in pain, the noise muffled once the gag was back in place.

“You have three days,,” the Evil (yeah-- that was really the only word Tony had left to describe him) Loki warned the broken man on the floor. “You will give me the answers I seek, or I will end this charade.”

EvilLoki returned his focus to Tony who’d finally wheezed his way back to fully working lungs.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Tony warned, his voice little more than a pained whisper.

“Wouldn’t what?” the god demanded.

“Kill the real Loki. It’s him. I know it’s him, and you’ll disappear if you push this too far,” Tony bluffed.

“You think this is knowledge you are capable of grasping, ape?”

“It’s this thing I do,” Tony said, sounding ridiculously breezy considering what had just happened. Snark was the last of his defence mechanisms, and damn it, he was holding onto it. “It’s a gift really. Sort of tied up in my genius. Hard to explain. I’ve always been better at recognizing enemies than friends.”

EvilLoki glared at him for a long moment, scouring his eyes as if to try and pull the truth from Tony. A moment later the god was gone in a flutter of green and gold. The cell closed behind him, and Tony was once again able to move his limbs freely. The suit powered back up on its own. He stood, realizing despite the suit he was going to have some nasty bruises, and walked over to a barely conscious Loki. He didn’t hesitate when he dropped to his knees to once again pull the gag off of him. Despite what the EvilLoki had said, it was all bullshit. If he really knew he was the real one, he’d have ended things then and there. But he couldn’t. If anything, he’d beat Loki worse, knowing Tony would see that the injured man got food and water over the next three days.

If it really was three days. It seemed unlikely they’d be so lucky.

Once the gag was off, Tony reached for the goblet of water which now sat on the bench that had righted itself overnight. The two plates were again full of food, and Tony wondered if it was some kind of magic connected to these cells, and if that meant his friends weren’t going to starve. There were just too many variables. As soon as he got his head around one answer, three more questions took its place.

“I’d ask if you were okay, but your arm looks like someone took it off, ran over it with a truck, then tied it back on with string.”

“Lovely,” Loki said, after a long drink of water, sounding better than he had the day before, much to Tony’s surprise. He was still moving like he was in a great deal of pain but his voice was clear and full of its usual contempt.

“Why do you sound better?” he asked. “You just got the crap kicked out of you.”

“I am not so fragile that a beating would damage me as it would you,” Loki said, sounding offended. “It was the lack of water. Jotun’s can not heal or think clearly without it.”

Loki attempted to straighten his arm to set whatever had come out of joint but stopped when his first attempt had him gasping in pain.

“Right. Thor told us about the adoption thing. And the blue thing. Well, not the blue _thing_ \--” He glanced down at Loki’s lap to give some clarity to his rambling which earned him an exasperated sigh.

“Make yourself useful. I need more water.”

“Still only one cup, so even if we’ll get more this evening you better take it easy. We can make it last.”

Loki nodded. He didn’t stop drinking until Tony pulled the cup away a few seconds later.

“So this is going to heal you?” Tony asked. “Back to normal?”

“It will take time,” Loki said. “More than three days.”

“Yeah, but that three days could’ve been bullshit, right? Any minute now he could pop back in and then you’re back to square one with healing.”

“No. He means to be gone three days,” Loki said. “He was specific about the length of his journey for a reason. He wanted me to know where he plans to go.”

“And where’s that?” Tony asked.

“It matters not. There is nothing to be done to stop him,” Loki replied, sounding unhappy at the prospect. He attempted to ease himself back down to the pillow but it had been moved in the beating he took and his options were either to ask Tony for assistance or go without. “Get me my pillow.”

“Yeah, see? No. I’m not your servant. You either play nice so I’ll play nice, or you can grow an extra arm out of the back of your head to grab that for you.”

“And if I won’t cooperate, will you keep the water from me as well?” It might have been meant as a challenge but Loki couldn’t quite pull off angry like he’d hoped. He sounded scared. And even if Tony hadn’t heard it in his voice he could see it written all over his face.

“No,” Tony said. “I’ll give you the water either way. And the damn pillow for that matter. It’s not about that.” He grabbed the pillow and shoved it closer to Loki, who immediately sank down against it. “I need to figure this out. I need to make something or do something or fix something so that everybody walks away. Even you.”

“Temporarily,” Loki said, his voice still steady, but the rest of him looking pretty damn weak. “You said you would temporarily see me freed. I did the crime, so I must do the time, remember?”

“Not like this,” Tony said. “Maybe not even here. If you help save the Avengers, Earth might give you a pass. Probably not a get out of jail free card, but there are options. I’ll think of something. That’s a problem for four days from now. Right now the problem is coming back in three.”

“I told you, this is useless,” Loki said. “You can not defeat him.”

“Believe it or not, I’ve gotten out of worse,” Tony insisted. “And if you think there’s no way we can win this thing, then he’s probably thinking the same thing. Which means if we can figure out some way to hide what we’re doing, we’ll have the edge.”

“And what is it that we are going to be doing?” Loki asked, his eyes fluttering shut, as if the very thought of having some hope was wiping him out.

“That’s the part that’s missing. I’m not worried about that part yet, because shit _always_ comes together in the end. Just work with me here on Step One. Hiding what we’re doing. If he’s not standing out there, can he still see us or hear us?”

“Both,” Loki said. “Although I can cloak myself from him, and cloak you as well, if you’re close in proximity.”

“Great,” Tony said. “Step One, already figured out. So how close are we talking? Where I am now close? Or friends with benefits close? Getting it on close?”

“Because I am fatigued, you would need to be quite close. When I am at my full strength I can shield from a distance,” Loki said, not even trying to understand what Tony was going on about. “Do you constantly speak your thoughts out loud because you are afraid to be left alone with them?”

“Yes. Definitely,” Tony said. If it was meant to be an insult it didn’t work. Tony was too focused on Step One. “Remember, Antlers, if you kill me, you’re back to lapping water off the floor twice a day.”

Which was all the warning he gave before he leaned down so he could shift under one side of the chains to lay down next to Loki. It was a royal pain in the ass since he was still in his suit.

“Don’t tense up-- it’s not like I’m going to try anything while I’m in biting range,” Tony pointed out. “This is all business. We just checked Step One off the list. Step Two is _probably_ going to be a little harder-- oh damn,” he swore as the sut dug in to one of the more intimate places he’d bruised when he’d been thrown back against the wall. “Bad idea--”

Tony wiggled down a ways so he could get back out from under the chains then stood up.

“If you’re sure it’s going to be three days I can lose the suit for awhile. You’re absolutely sure?”

“I can not be absolutely certain of anything. I am adequately convinced, if you find that helpful.”

“I’ll take it,” Tony said. He’d spent longer in the suit before but not by much. He was sweaty, his hair sticking up in every direction, as the suit peeled away from him. It remade itself once he was out, and stood guard as Tony crawled back under the chains to lay against the pillow once more. This time he eased himself down onto his injuries, which was the first time Loki seemed to notice he’d been hurt despite the suit.

“Mortals are so pathetically fragile,” Loki said, not unkindly. “How any of you survive past childhood is a mystery.”

“Yeah?” Tony asked. “Then why were we what you were so desperate to rule? You live to be in your thousands. You wanted to take over Earth and what? Subjugate some dust in the wind? That’d be like me declaring myself King of the Gerbils. Gerbils can get their worship on with the best of them I’m sure; it still doesn’t feel like much of a victory.”

“I was born to be a King,” Loki said simply. “It is my birthright.”

“And you’ve been King a couple of times. Right now for instance,” Tony pointed out. “How’s that working out for you?”

“Shut up.”

They laid in silence until Loki began to cough, his body spasming somewhat violently in pain as all the pieces of him that were yet unhealed protested the sudden movement. Tony grabbed for the water and attempted to help Loki sit up to get a drink, though that was harder without the suit than it had been when he’d been wearing it. This time he let Loki drink until he pulled away himself even if that left less than a third of the goblet filled with water. Tony took a small sip and then put the cup back.

“Do you want to try eating again?” Tony asked. “Is that something Jotuns need to heal too?”

Loki turned to look at him, his eyes taking in Tony as if he were a puzzle.

“What?” Tony asked. “What did I do to offend you now?”

“You speak of the Jotuns matter of factly,” Loki said simply. “You drank after me with full knowledge of what I am. I am unused to that.”

“You’re the only one I’ve ever met,” Tony pointed out. “And while my first, second and third impressions of you were all that you’re batshit crazy, it’s hard to blame that on a whole race. If Sesame Street taught me anything, it’s that assholes live everywhere.”

“I need food, but it is not as imperative as water,” Loki said, hoping for a quick change of subject. “If you will assist me, I will eat.”

“But you weren’t going to ask,” Tony said.

“No,” Loki said. “It didn’t seem important.”

“Bullshit,” Tony sighed, grabbing for a plate. “You just still don’t trust that I’m not going to make you beg for it.”

“Won’t you?” Loki asked. Again, his expression betrayed his thoughts. He was acting healthier but it was the baby antelope all over again in his eyes.

“No. I won’t,” Tony said emphatically. “Look-- I don’t know if this is about what happened on Earth, or if EvilLoki has fucked with your head so badly that you’ve given up, or if it’s because you turn blue and patricidal, or because Thor was an asshole well up into his 3,000s. I’m sure you could keep a psychiatrist busy for a couple centuries. That doesn’t change what I’m telling you now. I’m going to fix this. I’m not going to flounce over to the bed and leave you to starve. And if you don’t start helping me thinking of Step 2, I’m going to start brainstorming on my own. You’ll get a steady stream of Stark genius for the next 6 to 8 hours until something I come up with sounds like it will work.”

Loki was silent for nearly ten full seconds, before he smiled slightly, which was an odd juxtaposition on his bruised and battered face.

“You just admitted Thor was an asshole,” Loki said, marveling over the words as if no one had ever confirmed as much was possible before. Another pause. Then he met Tony’s eye with something akin to a smile. “Let the plotting begin.”


	7. Periodic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets a message to the other Avengers.

Tony hadn’t been sure what to expect taking up with the god of mischief and lies, but it turned out, what he got was a genius level scheming partner who spent half the time calling him an idiot and the other half the time proposing ideas that upped the idiot level of anything Tony proposed by a good 20, to 25 percent. Tony loved every second of it.

He knew he shouldn’t love it. For one Loki was a war criminal, and for another, they were stuck in a cell in the depths of Asgard with no expectation of help, in the clutches of an absolute madman. But there was just something about brainstorming-- wicked, to hell-with-reality, our lives and the lives of our loved one all hinge on our MacGyver like abilities to turn a spoon into a fucking Death Ray-- level brainstorming, that got Tony going.

And it was different than Afghanistan now.

There was plenty of light in their cell, and food and water, and-- well, Loki was a distracting sort of company. He took up all the space at the edge of where Tony’s anxieties lived. When in close proximity to Loki there was no room for anything else.

Which was why at the end of the night, long past the time when they’d both hit stupid-o’clock, Tony decided to sleep where he was.

“I’d rather your evil twin not watch me in my sleep, if you don’t mind me sticking close,” Tony said.

“It is easier to demand water from you when you are near enough to kick. Remain where you are,” Loki said, making it sound more like an order than permission.

The blanket was large enough that with a little extra work it started under them and then wrapped around Loki to cover Tony as well. Tony wasn’t about to snuff out the ever-glowing candles that worked as their light, so no darkness would touch them. The last thing he did was instruct the suit to shift to standby mode to conserve the little bit of energy it had left. It would wake if there was movement at the cell window. Otherwise it would remain mostly powered down. Tony was going to have to put it on the next day to let the arc reactor do its thing and give the suit a charge, but it wasn’t worth trying to sleep in it.

“Tomorrow, do you think you’d have enough magic to project an image of me into the surrounding cells?” Tony asked. “I know you said you won’t be able to hear them or answer questions, but they need to know when it all goes down, not to fight. If by some astronomically slim chance what we’ve discussed actually works, having Bruce go all mean and green on you could be a problem.”

“Why tomorrow?” Loki asked sleepily.

“Because after tomorrow morning you should save the rest of your magic for the escape. You said even at your best you weren’t sure you could do what it’s going to take. If all we can do to affect that is to rest you, then it’s non-negotiable.”

“Illusions are a hallmark of my work. They would be beyond foolish, even by mortal standards, to trust the message.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tony said. “Bruce is the only one who needs to absolutely believe it’s me, and I know what to say to convince him.”

Loki gave Tony an “if you say so, idiotic ant” look but didn’t object any further.

~~~~

Half an eternity away, in a place that wasn’t a realm, but wasn’t not a realm either, Loki, King of Asgard watched the two men through a mirror, and scoffed. That his pathetic counterpart thought he could shield his words and actions was amusing. He’d listened as they’d rambled, and watched as Stark had pulled apart pieces off his suit, programming them into small, tossable explosives and listening as his doppelganger gained hope from each useless suggestion. When he returned, he would taunt them for their pride and ignorance. Taunt them and then break every bone in their bodies.

The other Avengers could waste away watching Asgard burn; Tony Stark now awaited a more satisfying fate.

~~~~

Bruce awoke early the next morning to see Natasha awake next to him, sitting up, with a small notebook she’d brought in hand. He stretched, and patted down his curls though he knew it was useless.

“I’m sorry if you couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I can take the floor next time.”

“It’s not because I’m sharing a bed with you,” she said, since that was the easy assumption. “I stay up late and I wake up early, since I was a kid.”

“Ever tried meditation?”

“No,” she said honestly. “I don’t see lack of sleep as a negative. Sleep leaves you vulnerable.”

“A little vulnerability isn’t a bad thing,” Bruce said.

“Not when you can transform into a tank at a moment’s notice. I don’t have that luxury.”

“I’d say I’d trade you vices, but I like you too much to wish that on you.”

“You like me?” Natasha said. “Is that new?”

“You don’t think I like you?”

“I make you uncomfortable,” Natasha said.

Bruce laughed ruefully, pushing himself up on an elbow. “Even before the Other Guy, I was a scientist, with this hair, who liked comic books, chess and Magic: The Gathering. Every woman makes me uncomfortable. That isn’t new.”

“That’s all it is?” Natasha asked. “It’s not because of the helicarrier or because you think I’m more likely to upset you than the others?”

“No. If anyone is likely to set me off, it’s Tony. I can’t tell you how many times he’s jumped out of closets or--”

His line of thought was broken as Tony, appeared out of absolutely no where. Bruce only flinched but Natasha jumped a few inches off the bed, slamming her hand into the headboard.

“Damn it,” Natasha swore, cradling her wrist. “Where did you come from?”

“Don’t shoot, guys. It’s me,” the Tony image started, lifting his hands in the air in mock surrender. “Or more precisely it’s a projection of me, thanks to Loki. I can’t hear you and I can’t respond to any questions. The main thing is, no matter how suspicious all this sounds, being that Loki is doing the projecting and all, I’m behind it. I know what’s going on, I have a plan, we’re safe for now, and we’re going to be fine. When your cells open in a day or two, grab Thor then head for the stairs. Don’t wait for me. That’s the most important part. Oh, and don’t kill Loki. Particularly the Loki standing closest to me if there are duplicates running around. I hope we’re good on this-- but yeah. Bruce, I know you out of everyone needs some extra reassurance to meditate on, so here it is. On your desk in my lab sits Arsenic, Sulfer, Samarium, Uranium, two vials of Flourine, Iodine, Nitrogen and wait-- did I say Sulfer?

Anyway, now you know it’s me. Try not to talk too much about me appearing in case no one noticed. I can’t tell if our host is listening or not. Give it a day or two, we’ll be home and I’ll explain everything over Shawarma.”

Tony was gone an instant later and Bruce was left with a small smile when his friend disappeared.

“Was it him?” Natasha asked.

“That was enough proof for me.”

“What exactly are the two of you building with Uranium?” she asked, unable to resist.

“It was for baking,” Bruce said, shaking his head. “Tony is ridiculous. Which is how I know it was him.”

“That sounds about right.”

~~~~

“Did it work?” Tony asked. The image Loki projected should have duplicated out to all the cells, giving each of his friends the same message. A message he’d made Loki practice three times, before the attempt. 

Loki took a moment to answer, as if to catch his breath.

“Do not doubt me,” he snapped wearily. He looked rough-- as if he’d hardly healed at all despite the steady source of water over.

“Turning tricks takes that much out of you?” Tony asked.

“Funny. Not usually, no. I have been a month without water; that cannot be undone in a few days of your service. Additionally, my body uses magic to heal and because I am not Aesir it takes longer in this form.”

“So if you were all blue and icy you’d heal faster?” Tony asked. He couldn’t keep the intrigue out of his voice, he just couldn’t.

“Probably,” Loki said. “Get that look off your face, Stark. I will not put myself on display to satisfy your curiosity.”

“What if I promise not to look?” Tony asked. 

“Don’t lie to the god of lies. You’re embarrassing yourself, mortal.”

Loki huffed and closed his eyes, burrowing down a little more deeply into the pillow and that was the last of it. Tony wasn’t sure if Loki was asleep or not but he stayed quiet since Loki obviously needed the rest. He occupied himself with the extensive modifications to his suit that he and Loki had discussed and since it needed recharged he went ahead and put it on, even if it meant leaving Loki’s magical shield that kept him hidden from EvilLoki.

He’d been making adjustments for more than an hour when Loki began fretting in his sleep. Considering the nightmares Tony lived with, he wasn’t surprised Loki suffered from the same affliction. He left him alone, knowing that’s what he himself preferred, until Loki’s quiet, troubled mumbles turned to fervent, terrified begging. He began pulling against his chains, futilely attempting to protect himself from an enemy hidden in his dreams.

It took Tony less than 15 seconds to climb from his suit and drop down next to Loki. He knew better than to wake him up abruptly-- a few one night stands had done that to Tony after his last encounter with Loki and it hadn’t ended well for anyone. Instead he put his hand lightly on Loki’s shoulder, applying a small amount of pressure there.

“Loki,” he said, keeping his tone firm and even. “You’re dreaming. And you’re safe. Ish. Safeish. I’m not making any promises, but waking up is probably better than where you are. Come on-- It’s all fine on this end. Nobody here but me and stone walls and the magically refilling cup.”

Tony filled the air with pointless dialogue for another thirty seconds or so until Loki quieted. Thor's brother was still mumbling but it wasn’t panicked. If anything, he’d gone surprisingly calm, and when his eyes blinked open a minute later he looked more confused than frightened.

“What did you do?” Loki demanded.

“Do?” Tony asked. “I woke you up.”

“To get in my dream. You were there. None but my mother has ever been capable of entering my dreams to soothe the nightmares.”

“I was talking to you,” Tony said. “Your subconscious must have heard me and popped me in. It doesn’t take magic-- just proximity.”

Speaking of proximity, Tony’s hand was still on Loki’s shoulder, and it seemed as awkward to move it as it was to leave it there.

“Proximity,” Loki repeated slowly. “That is an adequate explanation. I do not make it a habit to allow company while I sleep. My mother was the exception. She seemed to know when the dreams would come and she would keep watch those nights.”

Loki looked away, frowning slightly. “I did not mean to take you away from your work.”

“My work is going to be absolutely pointless without your magic. Which makes helping you sleep as important as anything else I need to do.”

“There may not be enough time,” Loki sighed. “The physical toll of healing takes up too much of my magic to recharge.”

“Have you always given up this easily?” Tony asked, withdrawing his hand and sounding angry. “Because it damn sure explains a lot.”

“I have not given up,” Loki protested. “I am realistic. I am exhausted and I am not recovering. Would you rather me lie and tell you all will be well?”

“You have the ability to speed up your healing,” Tony said. “And you won’t do it because you don’t want to look like a smurf. It’s stupid. It’s vain. And shit-- this must be how Pepper feels all the time. Wow. That makes my head hurt. I should pay her more.”

“It is not simple vanity,” Loki objected, struggling to sit up. He began to cough and automatically Tony grabbed for the water and put a hand behind Loki to help him shift upright. “I am the _making_ of my own nightmares. All my life I believed Frost Giants to be the ultimate enemy. Do you have an equivalent to that? If all that you are was taken from you, would you readily embrace the monster within?”

Tony considered it for a moment and took a deep breath. “So this might be a dick thing to say-- but you’re _kiiiind_ of a monster either way. You did try and kill me and all.”

Loki tilted his head, looked as if he was going to say something biting, then ended up choking on a laugh. Not a maniacal, crazy cackle, but a genuine, amused laugh. Loki winced as his ribs tensed, and then side-eyed Tony.

“Help me lay down, and cover me with the blanket. It is about to get cold."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony spelled out a word/words using the periodic table.


	8. Frozen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki get down with his frost giant self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a summary in the end notes in case I was a fail as an author.

Okay, so _maybe_ Tony had had ulterior motives when he’d suggested this plan. The underlying premise was sound-- the overlying premise was sound for that matter. But what Tony couldn't help about himself was an insatiable curiosity for all things new, and a blue Loki-- well, that was new.

There was no point even pretending he wasn’t going to stare, though with the blanket over the prince all he could really see was his face. A face that went from pale to blue, and eyes that shifted from green to red. Symbolic looking ridges appeared on his forehead where there’d been none before and the look was alien yet still... Loki.

And he was beautiful.

“Stop _staring_ , Stark,” Loki complained. “If my appearance offends you, retreat to the bed and cower out of my sight.”

“Cool it, Vanilla Ice,” Tony said, plopping down to sit cross-legged next to the right set of Loki’s chains. “I’m not going anywhere. Is this better? Being blue I mean. Do you feel like you’re healing any faster? If I touch you am I going to get frost bite?”

“It’s been thirty seconds. I can hardly hope to tell a difference _now_. Halt your tongue and provide me with food and water when instructed. That is your purpose.”

“Initiating Silent Servant Mode now,” Tony said. And he was silent for more than a minute which was some kind of record for him. At least silent out loud. In his head his thoughts were going as fast as ever, mostly focused on holy-shit-I’d-totally-do-the-smurf-god, and this-is-so-inappropriate-get-over-yourself-and-remember-new-york.

And remember the job at hand. They had less than a day left and a plan that was largely out of his control. Which meant Loki wasn’t going to get the chance to freeze him out. Tony was careful to keep the blanket in place as he crawled under it. It was absolutely imperative that Loki’s body remain hidden if this was going to work.

“What are you doing?” Loki demanded, as Tony shifted closer until he was somewhat neatly nestled against him.

“Resting,” Tony said simply. “Now shut up, Shakespeare. I’m exhausted.”

Tony shifted again, until he was practically _snuggled_ against Loki’s side. Which finally left him close enough to put his mouth next to Loki’s ear.

“Is it working?” Tony breathed, in a voice so low there was no damn way they’d be overheard outside the cell. Because despite appearances, they weren’t idiots. And anything that had been heard so far had been _meant_ for EvilLoki’s ears. The plan he’d heard and the actual plan were nothing alike. During all their chatting and scheming and plotting that first afternoon, the only parts of it that were real were the secret messages Loki and Tony had tapped out to each other on the pieces of Iron Man suit he’d pulled apart and claimed to be turning into explosives.

Loki nodded imperceptibly. Which was good. Really damn good, since this had been the riskiest part of it all. After taking several surveys of the set up that was keeping Loki chained, Tony had realized the locks were the weak point. He’d already tried picking them himself, the first morning, but nothing he had on him was malleable enough to slide up through the maze that made up the internal mechanisms of the Asgardian latches. But water was.

Specifically water in the form of ice. It worked for even the strongest locks on Earth. Tony had made something of a name for himself at MIT using canned air, dry ice, and a healthy dose of not giving a fuck, to break into just about anywhere and everywhere on campus. 

And according to Loki, the ice plan was working. 

Once he was free, step two (or was it phase 3-- it seemed like a lifetime ago) of the real plan was to switch places, since EvilLoki considered Tony without his suit about as dangerous as a baby chihuahua. The plan EvilLoki thought he was walking into was Tony using his suit to attack him, as well as Tony using explosive charges he’d made from the suit to attack him, but in reality, Tony would be on the floor, with illusions in place to make him look like Loki, and Loki would be illusioned to look like Tony, standing nearer the entrance, ready to take Evil!Loki on.

Yeah, not the greatest, or safest plan, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

They laid still for nearly an hour when Loki turned to look at Tony. Despite the fact that everything they’d said about Loki healing more quickly in his Jotun form had been to put EvilLoki off their ice-lock-busting trail, it turned out, that much was true. Loki _looked_ healthier than he had in days. Hell, he looked healthier than he’d looked when he was on Earth at what Tony had assumed was top form.

“You are staring again,” Loki accused.

“I don’t have anything else to look at,” Tony said, sounding entirely unconcerned. Because this was maybe part of the plan? That _was_ the problem with having plotted all of this two days previous through tapped messages on the equivalent of a damn calculator. Now he couldn’t be entirely sure he and Loki had been on the same page. Which meant either Loki was starting up again so they could begin Phase 3, or Tony was about to get his tongue bitten off.

“You’re a vile, idiot,” Loki growled. “Move away, mortal.”

Right. Part of the problem with dealing with the god of lies was that it was really damn hard to tell when he was acting.

“I could move away,” Tony agreed. “But there’s a good chance I’m going to die tomorrow. So I could also stay here. Proximity has its benefits. Comfort for comfort’s sake isn’t always a bad thing.”

“You’re suggesting what exactly?” Loki drawled. “Intercourse? Coitus?”

Which made Tony choke out a laugh. “Slow down, Snow White. That’s-- Well, that’s not entirely off the table I guess, but I mean-- I don’t even know how you’re put together or what goes where, and I doubt you’re going to let me take a look. I was more thinking making out like a couple of freshman on a band bus. Maybe getting to second base if we’re lucky. How about I just let you tell me when to stop?”

Loki paused, looking torn and annoyed. “Fine,” Loki said. “Only because occupying your mouth with my own will shut you up for more than five minutes. You will need to move to accommodate me though. I will not rend my shoulder from joint to osculate a mortal.”

“You are such a smooth talker,” Tony said, shifting so he could slide a leg over Loki’s hips. He was incredibly cautious with the blanket since it was key EvilLoki not see what was going on under there. As Tony moved, he let his hand wander down Loki’s arms and sure enough, both his wrists were free of the constraints. He still wouldn’t be able to move them since it needed to appear nothing had changed, but it felt _damn_ good to have a chance of getting out.

Good enough that in his enthusiasm, Tony leaned in to kiss Loki a little more excitedly than he’d intended. So the noise that followed-- a plaintive sort of breathy moan-- from the god of lies, mischief and throwing things off buildings, threw him for a loop. Was it acting? Was Loki so hard up for a tumble in the hay it only took one (really good) kiss to get him going. Either way, apparently they were both on the same page, and the plan continued.

Tony was ridiculously hard from the show they were putting on, which would have been embarrassing if he couldn’t feel Loki under him, equally as turned on. That was biology. It was the nature of friction. It was a lot of damn things, but it wasn’t actual affection no matter how much Tony enjoyed the struggle for dominance in their kiss.

Then without any warning at all, Loki pulled his mouth away and whispered an urgent _”now”_.

Rehearsal hadn’t been possible, so this was really all on Loki to pull it off. He was the one who was going to legit shield them for a few precious seconds. He was the one who was going to cast the spell that would have Loki looking like Tony, and leave Tony blue, and bound on the floor. It went so fast, Tony wasn’t sure it had worked until he felt the weight of the loosened chains around his wrist, and the cold of the floor under his back.

And in that moment, his brain broke a little. Only a crack. Maybe it was nothing more than a fissure, but there was just something about placing all your trust in your sworn enemy, a man who had tried to kill you, kill your friends, and take over your planet, that suddenly felt like a poor life choice.

Especially since he was watching his own doppelganger pull up and away.

“You bit me,” Loki accused, with Tony’s own voice.

What a _mindfuck_.

“Your tongue was in my way, mortal. And you reek of humanity,” Tony replied, trying to stay in character despite his rising panic that this was not a good idea. That maybe putting this much faith in Loki 2.0 was going to come back to bite him in the ass.

But it was a little late for second guesses. Tony watched as his own face glared at him, then walked out of sight to go lay down on the bed. Which made sense, since Loki was using a lot of his magic and he needed to get rest. Real rest.

So Tony settled back against the stones and tried to convince himself he wasn’t spending the last 12 hours of his life stuck in another damn cave.

Time passed in fits and starts. Tony drifted in and out of a restless sleep, actually glad that the chains were weighing down his wrists so he didn’t accidentally reveal his freedom while dreaming. Eventually Loki returned to his side to give him water and feed him food by hand. And while Loki had complained earlier about Tony staring, it didn’t stop Loki from staring at Tony now. Hie eyes never left Tony’s blue face. Whether he was trying to keep up on the act and his impersonation of the human, or if he just couldn’t get enough of his own appearance, Tony couldn’t venture to guess.

It was actually a relief when Loki went away the second time even if the rest of the night was a lesson in misery. By the time the alarms on his suit went off to warn them someone had entered the cell the next morning, Tony had all but lost hope. He’d convinced himself EvilLoki had seen through the ruse and in less than a minute his skull would be crushed under the god’s boot.

The remote charges Tony had rigged on his suit went off in rapid succession, in a series of loud bangs, that EvilLoki batted away like gnats. Tony lifted his head to see Loki, wearing Tony's skin, apparently frozen in place, with a scowl on his face.

“Was that _really_ the best you could do?” EvilLoki asked Tony on the floor(hopefully not realizing it wasn’t Loki-- Tony still couldn’t tell). “This feeble attempt at escape. It is only right you should remain this way indefinitely. Left alone to waste, blue and quivering like the pathetic milksop you are.”

EvilLoki stepped closer, to focus on the version of himself on the floor, and much like every other visit, he seemed intent on bringing physical damage before anything else. Tony winced and waited, knowing even one kick to his chest or head would likely kill him. With EvilLoki’s attention on the decoy, he didn’t see the blow coming from behind. Loki may have taken Tony’s appearance, but he still had his magic, and his strength, and whatever spell EvilLoki had used to paralyze him as he’d paralyzed Tony the last time hadn’t work on him.

Loki had moved behind him with an invisible quickness and hit him in the back of the head before shoving him with all his force which sent EvilLoki flying over top of Tony on the floor and slamming into the opposite wall. With a flick of his hand, the scepter flew out of EvilLoki’s hand to Loki, who used it to send a bright blast of energy at EvilLoki, who fell to the floor temporarily stunned.

All the magic fell away and Tony sat up, yanking his wrists from the broken chains. He was unsteady as he stood, and stared for a moment, first at Loki, who had gone blue again, rather than turning back to his previous form, and then EvilLoki crumpled on the ground.

“How long will he be out?” Tony asked.

“Not long enough for this conversation,” Loki said, sounding more than a little stunned himself.

“How long will this cell hold him?”

“I don’t know,” Loki said, backing away, and seeming uncomfortable with the scepter in his hand. He pointed it at EvilLoki but the expression on his face was all confusion. Confliction. “It held me. He may be more powerful. I don’t _know_.”

“You don’t have to kill him,” Tony said. “It just needs to hold for long enough for us to wake up Thor or get help from your people.”

“They will not help me,” Loki said, still standing in place.

“They’ll help Thor. Come _on_ ,” Tony said, grabbing Loki by his wrist and tugging. “We need to go. Open the cells. All of them, in case Odin-- the real Odin-- is in there.”

“I’m still a wanted man,” Loki said, giving Tony a shove toward the cell window that he parted with the scepter. “I can heal Thor in a day. Let him free Odin, and allow me a head start to make my escape. You owe me that much.”

Tony was still looking behind him as he passed through, so he saw EvilLoki appear as if from nowhere, grabbing Loki and dragging him back into the cell. Loki shot a powerful surge of magic forward, and Tony made a grab for his hand, getting the scepter but losing Loki in the process. The cell closed, and Tony could see the gods fighting inside-- one blue, one looking like himself-- and he was helpless to assist.

The magic Loki cast had opened the three cells opposite them, one empty, and the other two containing his friends.

“Tony?” Steve greeted, sounding concerned. 

“I’m fine,” Tony said. “Just-- you and Bruce need to grab Thor and get him upstairs. Natasha, Clint, I need your help.”

He’d have rather kept the Captain for this fight, but Thor was heavy, and he wasn’t getting up those stairs without Steve.

“How’d you get the scepter?” Clint asked, though then his eyes caught was going on in the cell as Tony aimed the scepter at it.

“Go,” Tony said urgently. “Get Thor upstairs. He needs to get back to Earth. These stones are worthless and they’re hurting more than they’re helping. Oh, and ignore what Odin said about random people trying to kill Thor. Not true. Any guard can help. I’ll fill in the blanks after we-- something.”

Because that was about as far as Tony could plan as the glass-like panel between them and the two Loki’s went dark and he was unable to see inside any longer. All he saw was his own reflection.

“Shit,” he swore, as Steve lifted Thor and Bruce followed him quickly up the stairs. Tony could see the way Bruce’s forehead furrowed with the effort of keeping himself together so it was a good thing he’d already had Tony’s messaged reassurance things would be fine. At least he hoped they’d be fine.

“So who exactly are we trying to save here?” Natasha asked.

“And you didn’t answer me about the scepter,” Clint added, sounding suspicious. He’d gotten the message, and he trusted Tony-- he just wasn’t 100% sure this was Tony.

“I got the scepter from Loki, and Loki’s who we’re trying to save,” Tony said, only half paying attention as he focused more of his brainpower on how to work the damn thing. “The blue one’s good. Well, not good. Better. Ummm... He’s medium. But we need his help to heal Thor. That’s the important thing here.”

There was no way he could explain exactly what was going on in the urgency of the moment, and it was actually Natasha, who grabbed the scepter from Tony and just jabbed it at the mirrored screen. Instantly they could see inside, and two versions of Loki, _both_ blue, became visible. They were also both on the ground, still shooting spells at each other, and looking a hell of a lot worse for the wear.

“Shit,” Tony swore. "i can't tell them apart."

“Help me shove this through,” Natasha said. “And Clint-- take aim.”

“At which one?”

It was a good question, and fuck if Tony knew. They were both beat up, both blue, both bruised after whatever beating they’d been dishing out.

“Give me back the scepter,” Tony said. “I can shove it through on my own. When it opens, let me ask a question, then shoot the one who answers incorrectly. It’s the best we can do.”

Tony took the scepter back, and then with all his strength rammed it into the screen. It parted, opening up the cell.

“What does Bruce have on his desk?” Tony demanded. “My Loki ought to know.”

“Arsenic, Sulfer, Samarium, Uranium, two vials of Flourine, Iodine and Nitrogen,” answered the Loki to the left.

“Ass muffins,” answered the Loki to the right.

Natasha and Clint didn’t need to be told where to aim their weapons. Anyone who’d just spent three days with Tony would answer the same.


	9. Pre-Regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers make it back.

EvilLoki dropped to the ground and fuck Tony hoped they’d gotten it right. He kept the scepter in place, keeping the cell open, as the other Loki stood up unsteadily and practically fell through to get to them. Tony held out the scepter for Natasha to take once the cell had resealed itself.

“I’ll help him up the stairs,” Tony said to Clint and Natasha. “You two go ahead. Just-- let me explain before you tell anyone about what you saw okay? Loki’s going to have to look a little less Loki to get to Earth.”

“To _Earth_?” Clint asked. “You mean _our_ Earth? The planet he tried to steal?”

“Rule,” Loki breathed out. “I was going to rule Midgard, not _steal_ it.”

“That is not a helpful distinction,” Tony said. “Doesn’t matter. Do this for me guys. We need his help to heal Thor.”

“He can’t do that here?” Natasha asked.

Suddenly the room they were in began to vibrate slightly, and that was the cue for an exit, no matter how much Natasha and Clint weren’t in love with the plan. They headed for the stairs, and left Tony to deal with Loki, who was leaning against the wall for support.

“They won’t let me leave Asgard like this,” Loki said. “I need to use my magic to appear as someone else.”

“I figured,” Tony said. “Pick a human and go with it. Don’t we all look the same to you anyway?”

*

It had been easier than Tony thought. Apparently humans _did_ look the same to everyone on Asgard, and an extra one (Loki had inexplicably taken the form of a character from Days of our Lives) didn’t make a bit of difference. They were far more worried about Thor, and would have been more hesitant about the Midgardians taking him if it weren’t for the sudden shaking and then Loki pointing down the stairs.

“Loki’s down there,” he said urgently. “You have to watch out! He almost stole Earth!”

Loki’s accent was American... maybe. Sort of Texan, with a hint of California drawl, and he was half using Clint’s words from minutes before. The effect was that Tony snorted out a laugh, which drew no more attention than Loki’s bizarre accent had.

“Is that what you think we sound like?” Tony asked Loki, as they hurried after the rest of the Avengers, who were up ahead with a giant of a guard, who was carrying Thor in his arms.

“No,” Loki said. “It’s what they think you sound like though.”

“I can’t tell if I’m turned on or insulted, cowboy,” Tony said, realizing they were getting farther behind than the others because Loki was struggling to put one foot in front of the other. “Put your weight on me,” Tony said. “I’ve propped up Thor, I can prop you up too.”

Yeah, he’d been wearing his suit at the time, but Loki looked about half the weight. Except he wasn’t. Loki put his weight against Tony, and it was a serious struggle to keep him on his feet.

“Right. Bad idea. Steve?” Tony called, supporting Loki long enough that Steve jogged back and wrapped an arm around Thor’s brother. Between the two of them (and most of it was Steve) they got Loki down to the end of the bridge and then looked around, because they were alone.

“Probably shouldn’t have banished Heimdall,” Loki mumbled only loud enough for Tony and the Captain to hear him. He was fading fast, and Tony really wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought that part through-- that even healed, Loki had been a month with no food, next to no water, and mostly unmoving. Of course he wasn’t going to have a damn spring in his step.

The warrior who'd carried Thor for them knew what to do though, so he handed the prince of Asgard back to Steve, Bruce helped Tony prop up Loki, and faster than anyone could yell Tally Ho, they were flying through space, then landing with an oomph on top of Tony’s tower. The rainbow went away and all eyes suddenly went to Tony as if somehow he should know what to do. And he didn’t, not really-- but he knew where to start.

“Captain will you take Thor to the room next to my room? And Loki-- I can’t believe I’m saying this, but please put back on your own face because you’re freaking me the hell out.”

“That’s what freaks you out?” Bruce asked, now that they were back on Earth and in a familiar setting feeling a little more like he could face whatever was going on. “Not that you’ve brought King Crazy back home?”

“This isn’t Loki. Exactly,” Tony said. “I swear-- I’ll explain. Let me get him to bed, and then--”

“Your bed,” Natasha said. It wasn’t a question so much as an accusation, and yeah, that’s actually where he was going to put him and shit-damn-fuck, he was really losing it. Definitely, positively losing it.

“Yes, my bed,” Tony sighed. “So I can keep an eye on him, and as soon as he's rested a little he can try and wake Thor up. Not so Loki and I can have wild, acrobatic monkey sex or anything. One, I’d save that for the room with the trapeze. And two, nothing’s going on, except he’s starved and beat up, and hurt and part of that came about because he was trying to help. Us.”

Everyone began to move, and then Tony froze in place again to look back at Natasha and Clint.

“Wait for me to come back down and explain before you call Fury? Please? Last favor, I swear. Swear on my life. And I’ll let you each borrow a car for the weekend, and I won’t even sweat it if you eat in them while you’re driving, or racing, or whatever it is the two of you do when you steal my cars and don’t think I’ve noticed.”

Clint and Natasha looked at each other for less than a second before they said “Deal,” in unison.

Bruce ended up being the one to help Tony get Loki into the elevator and then to Tony’s room and into bed. The Soap Star enchantment was gone, as was the blue, so Loki actually looked a good bit like he’d looked after he’d been tossed around by the Hulk and he was definitely looking at Bruce warily. Which Bruce seemed to enjoy immensely.

“I’m just a floor away if you need me,” Bruce promised Tony, though really that was far more for Loki’s benefit than Tony’s. Bruce left them alone, and Tony sat down on the edge of the bed, reaching under it to the hidden mini-fridge, and fishing out one of his bottles of emergency hangover cure. Or what most people called water.

“I’ve got to go talk to them. Try and rest, and don’t-- you know-- find an army and make me look like an ass while you destroy New York again.”

“Armies are more difficult to acquire than you think,” Loki said, his voice lacking almost all of his usual bite. 

“You look rough,” Tony said. “When I leave, go blue. That seemed to help a lot.”

“Why are you doing this?” Loki demanded, grabbing Tony roughly by the wrist. And there was the bark and the bite all in one. “Why help me? You know what I am.”

“Can’t you just be happy that I’m doing it, and take it at that?” Tony asked, jerking his hand away. “Because I’m-- I’m afraid the answer is seriously not much more than me being fucked in the head. And that probably isn’t a great reason.”

“Yet it is strangely reassuring,” Loki said, sounding like he meant it. “You are dismissed. Return with dinner when you have convinced them not to crucify me.”

“I’ll bring you dinner and it isn’t going to come to that,” Tony promised. “We wouldn’t have gotten out of there without your help. There’s got to be some sort of code about not turning you over. I think. Besides, half of you is still in that cell. It’s not as if you’re going unpunished.”

“I somehow doubt your Director Fury will see the distinction.”

“Let me worry about it,” Tony said. “It would go a long way toward making friends here if you could fix Thor. Can you?”

“Yes,” Loki said. “It will take significant magic but I know what needs to be done. It will need to wait until morning though. I need more rest and water before I attempt it.”

“Then get to it. I won’t be long.”

Tony knew better than to hope everyone else had suddenly grown tired and gone to bed before he got down there. That would have been some seriously wishful thinking. So he wasn’t surprised that all his teammates were sitting around the living room, Clint, Natasha and Bruce sharing the couch, and Steve sitting across from them, alone on the love seat. When Tony appeared, Steve held up a beer for him.

“We aren’t upset with you,” the Captain said, waiting for Tony to take the alcohol before leaning back against the cushions. “I just want to get that out of the way, because I know this has got to feel like four against one. That’s just the nature of being the only one who knows what’s going on.”

“Which isn’t anything new for me,” Tony said, quirking an eyebrow and then taking several gulps from the beer before sitting down next to Steve.

“You know how Thor told us Loki had died?” Tony asked. “Well, he was only mostly dead. Alive enough to escape wherever he was, get back to Asgard, and make a play for the throne.”

“I can definitely see why we’re helping him then,” Clint said, when Tony paused to take another drink. “That’s a real stand-up guy right there.”

“Let him finish,” Bruce said. “Without all the facts, any one of our stories could look pretty bad. Well, except maybe Steve’s.”

“Even mine,” Steve disagreed. “Go on Tony.”

“Right. So Loki made a play for the throne, and then after he put Odin somewhere-- I’m not super clear on that part-- he decided to cast a spell on himself that would rid him of all his weaknesses-- you know, your basic things like morality, the ability to love, brotherly protectiveness. So Loki cast the spell, and instead of being rid of all that, he tore himself in two. So there’s one Loki that’s basically stripped down to nothing but evil, and then there’s the Loki who’s here, who is Loki’s... better half? I don’t know. He’s still not good. But there’s good in there.”

“So there are two of them, and we left Evil!Loki behind in the cell. We hope.”

“I’m pretty sure. Like... 95... 98 percent?” Tony said. “Anyway, we need him to heal Thor, and he isn’t going to do that from a S.H.I.E.L.D holding cell. He needs to rest, but he thinks he can fix Thor tomorrow.”

“And then we let Thor deal with him?” Natasha asked.

“We get his opinion at least,” Tony said.

“He still sounds pretty damn guilty to me,” Clint said. “I’m sorry, Tony-- I can tell you want him to not be the shit weasel he was before, but...” Clint sighed. Between him and Natasha they’d done some messed up stuff, and they’d been given second chances so it was just hard to get out words to demand someone else not be given the same opportunity.

“I know,” Tony said, and there was some genuine remorse in his voice. “This is fucked up. _I’m_ fucked up. It’s just... I know what it’s like to split in two. The old me-- before any of you met me-- I was a bad person. I lacked-- I don’t know, Pepper used to say I was missing ‘pre-regret’. You know, whatever it is that keeps a person from doing something hurtful or stupid, because you know you’re going to regret it later.”

“I think that’s called a conscience,” Bruce helped.

“Yeah, it is. And I didn’t have much of one. But when I got hurt, and I woke up and I had that electromagnet in my chest, there was a guy--”

Tony paused for a moment because he never really brought this stuff up. Ever. For most of the team it was the first time they’d ever heard it straight from him.

“A guy named Yinsen, and he saved my life twice, and he _became_ my conscience. He’s my pre-regret. And when Loki was explaining everything that had happened, that’s kind of how he described himself. He said he’s the version that would actually think about the consequences--”

“And then the other guy,” Bruce filled in. “The other Loki... that’s the one who caused all the trouble?”

His voice was free of any judgement, and he as much as anyone knew a thing or two about feeling split in half.

“I just feel like he deserves a chance,” Tony said. “Not necessarily a chance to run free, or a chance to cause trouble, but a chance not to sit in a cell for the rest of his life for crimes he didn’t necessarily commit all on his own. If nothing else, Thor can probably shed some light on things tomorrow. For tonight-- _please_ \-- I’m asking as a friend-- don’t tell anyone he’s here. Not until we’ve got Thor to step in if the World Security Council decides to execute him without a trial or something.”

Natasha looked to Clint, because in her mind it was Clint’s call and she was going to support that. And since everyone else had looked to Natasha, when Clint shrugged and sighed, Natasha nodded. She knew what that meant.

“Fine,” she said. “We’ll wait for Thor to wake up and see what he thinks. Until then, try to keep Loki out of trouble.”

Tony nodded. “I’m on it.”


End file.
